Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
by twilightstargazer
Summary: It starts with three months and they both wonder how to get through it but soon enough, he's counting down seconds till he sees her face. Percabeth. Oneshot. For Tisha.


_**Belated birthday fic for Tisha but better later than ever, no? Also, take heed that I haven't read House of Hades as yet so anything new about everyone's favourite ship that might have popped up isn't going to be included here. Also, an obscene number of line breaks because I'm dabbling in writing styles again.**_

_**Lovely art by anxiouspineapples.**_

_**If I owned the Percy Jackson/ Heroes of Olympus series I would have never thrown them into Tartarus.**_

* * *

A part of you has grown in me.  
And so you see, it's you and me  
Together forever and never apart,  
Maybe in distance, but never in heart

* * *

He should be happy for happy for her.

Really, he should. They finally had some semblance of normalcy in their lives, but for all that it's worth, Percy wishes that they were back fighting monsters together instead of her being three states over. At least, in spite of the numerous near death occurrences (which sadly also became part of normalcy for them as well), they had been together. And now that everything's been cleared up Annabeth has gone off to college to study architecture while he stayed in New York.

It's dumb he thinks. He should be happy. He is happy that she's getting to do what she's wanted to ever since he's met her, but the misery he feels in her absence far outweighs that.

Percy sighs as he stares outside to where it's raining heavily. It's only September. Next time he's going to see her it'll be December.

Three months he has to do without hugging her or kissing her or holding her. Without being able to see the small smile she has just for him right before she laughs and calls him an idiot for some stupid thing he did by accident (or on purpose).

The only forms of communication they'll have is Iris messaging or vide chatting since they feel none too comfortable using a cell phone. And that would have to take place only on weekends because dammit she's _Annabeth_ and he'll put good money on the fact whenever she has classes she's going to have everything off for the entire day.

He could barely handle the thought of that. Gods only know how he's going to handle three months alone.

* * *

She supposes her roommate is nice enough; a bit barmy, but after all that has happened, Annabeth thinks that maybe a bit barmy is exactly what she needs.

College life is nice enough she supposes. The lectures are always so interesting and when she saw the library, she thought she would faint. It was enormous, with never ending rows of books that held a wealth of knowledge within them. She just wanted to curl up with two or three blankets and ratty pyjamas as she read all of them.

The only downside was that Percy wasn't there.

No matter how much excitement the thought of going to college and being able to do architecture brought to her, there would always be that little dark spot that all her friends and family were in New York. That Percy was in New York.

Classes are amazing, but all the papers she had research and write slowly drained her of her time and that meant not being able to talk to him as often as she wanted to. Although, to be fair, she could still be back there with Percy and still not be able to talk to him as often as she'd like.

When she was little Christmas never held a lot of allure for her but now it did because that meant that classes closed for a few weeks. That she could go back and see him. The loser with perpetually messy hair and whose face screamed mischief all the time. The idiot who always smelt like sea spray and would try to read about the places she wanted to visit just so he could have a sort of conversation with her about them.

Three months was a far too long time to wait before she could experience any of that in person again.

* * *

What were they doing last Halloween?

Percy honestly doesn't know. All the time spent on that quest felt like one horribly long nightmare instead of several months.

Sally had gone out with Paul, leaving him in charge of distributing candy in case any trick or treaters decided to pay them a visit. He highly doubted that, but then again, that seemed like something he and Annabeth would have done. Or, he would have done and Annabeth would roll her eyes in exasperation as if she was saying, _'ladies and gentlemen, my boyfriend; the big buffoon with the mentality of a three year old.'_ Well, she would have used a wider expanse of vocabulary, he digressed. She would have said that before proceeding to raid his bag and take what she wanted.

A rerun of some sort of sitcom played out on television, but Percy hardly paid an attention to it. He held the plastic orange bucket to his chest as he lounged on the couch, picking and choosing to his delight. Out of habit, he took out all of the taffy and placed them one side, just as he would have normally done if Annabeth was here.

One month and a little bit he reassured himself.

* * *

Someone in their hall decided to play a cruel trick and tape a fake spider to door frame for Halloween.

When Annabeth opened the door, it hit her straight on the nose. Initially, she was slightly peeved but when she realised that it was a spider she froze stock still in the middle of the door way and stared at it before emitting a strangled shriek and slamming the door. Her roommate- Mindy she had learnt her name was- laughed when she realised what had spooked Annabeth and grudgingly removed it from the door.

In her defence, it looked pretty life like.

She spent most of her time on campus which meant that no trick or treaters came by. Despite this, Mindy thought it fit to buy a bag of candy just in case. Some students even decided to dress up in various costumes. Many chose characters from movies, but she also noticed that there were some in Greek and Roman outfits as well. She held her tongue to stop from pointing out the historical inaccuracies they possessed.

Later in the evening when she had retired to her dorm by herself (most of the student population ventured off to some Halloween party or the other) with only a large dusty tomb for some light reading, she found a package awaiting for her atop her desk. No one delivered anything to the rooms, causing Annabeth to realise who it was from immediately.

She unwrapped it and a bag of homemade salt water taffy- blue of course- tumbled out on to her duvet with a note attached.

_Miss you Wise Girl._

She missed him too.

* * *

Two weeks.

He could make two weeks right?

It had gotten colder. Before, it used to depress him to no end, but now it just meant that he was another day closer to having Annabeth home. He would never admit it, not even to Zeus himself, but the mere thought of that made him feel giddy.

She was coming in the week before Christmas and Percy planned on spending every possible moment with her. Hell, he had even done his Christmas shopping early to make sure of this. Usually he just waited until two days before.

Nonetheless, Annabeth, his lovely, wonderful girlfriend would be back here with him in two weeks.

He couldn't wait.

* * *

She was swamped with papers that needed to be handed up before she left on break. The only thing that was keeping her sane during all of that was the fact that she would be reunited with Percy once more in just less than two weeks.

When they talked over the weekend, he told her all of the things he had planned for them to do when she came back. Ice skating, spending Christmas with Sally and Paul and visiting Chiron and the others at Camp if they had enough time. Percy had asked her if she wanted to see her dad on Christmas itself, but she had refused, choosing to meet what she considered her real family.

One of the things that sucked from being out there by herself was that she was completely cut off from the demigod world. She didn't mind the drop in monster attacks, but she had to find out everything else from Percy and, even though she loved him dearly, he wasn't exactly the most reliable of sources.

She looked over at her calendar again, focusing on the date that was circled with red.

Two weeks.

She could do this.

* * *

Her flight would be coming in tomorrow and Percy felt jittery, as though it was their first date all over again.

Annabeth was going to be staying in the spare room in his apartment that Sally usually used as storage. He had spent the last three days clearing it out and ensuring that it was spider free. It was a small room and he had offered her several times to take her back to Camp or at her dad's to stay but she insisted on staying with him.

The last of the cleaning was done- there wasn't a single cobweb in sight- and he smelt faintly of lemon scented wood polish. His mum had laughed when she saw him on his hands and knees scrubbing the entire place, teasing him as she said that she would have put Annabeth in his room if she knew he would have cleaned like that.

He couldn't be bothered to reply, mainly because she was partially right and that he was practically counting down the seconds until two o' clock tomorrow evening.

* * *

Her suitcase was packed and waiting at the foot of her bed.

Mindy had left already which meant that she had the entire dorm for the night. Normally without her roommate who liked to go to bed early, Annabeth would take advantage and spend the night reading or video chatting with Percy (it cost too much to IM; neither of them had enough drachmas though she silently thought that what with all the IMing she and Percy did they should have gotten some sort of discount from Iris)

However, she was too keyed up, too excited about the fact that she was going home tomorrow to sit in one spot and read and Percy wasn't answering his phone, nor did she spot him online.

So instead, she did something she hadn't done in a while; made herself a cup of chamomile tea and drank it until she felt sleepy and switched off the light, going to bed before nine for the longest while since ever. It didn't surprise her much that most of her dreams were filled with Percy.

* * *

The board showed that her flight had landed and while he stood, leaning against a wall nonchalantly, inside was another story.

This was it.

She was finally here. Any moment now he would spot the head of blonde curls walking through the gate.

* * *

The flight took an hour at most and there was hardly any turbulence whatsoever. She suspected that Zeus was in a good mood.

She managed to get through customs, grab her luggage and find herself walking out the gate in less than thirty minutes.

She scanned the crowd and finally found him against the wall, causing a wide smile breaking across her face.

* * *

He grinned like a loon when he spotted her, all pretence of coolness and calmness slipping away once her grey eyes connected with his, not over a scratchy video feed or Iris Message, but here, in real life.

Percy pushed himself off the wall and crossed the floor in three strides.

Annabeth dropped her luggage and met him in the middle, wrapping her arms around his neck as he practically lifted her up in the hug. He was warm and she practically sighed when the faint scent of sea mist invaded her nose.

She was small in his arms, but not dreadfully so, as she fit him perfectly. Her hair was pulled away in a messy bun, but a few wayward curls had escaped to brush the nape of her neck and fall in front of her face. She smelt of roses and taffy.

He loosened his grip a little bit, only to catch her mouth with his in a short sweet kiss. Annabeth felt like melting. She missed this the most. Time could freeze like that and she would be most ecstatic.

They pulled away and he brushed his nose against hers, still grinning like a loon; she wasn't any better off.

"I love you, Wise Girl," Percy whispered as he wrapped his arms around her again, although this time her feet were firmly planted on the floor.

"I love you to, Seaweed Brain," smiled Annabeth, leaning herself against his chest and closing her eyes as they both shared that single moment of contentment in the middle of the busy airport.

* * *

_**Reviews are awesome little buggers, yeah?**_


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